The article says there are no plans for Microsoft hardware with Cyanogen on it.
I imagine Microsoft will continue as it has been with Windows Phone. This is just a way to use the Microsoft apps across both Windows Phone and Cyanogen devices that want those apps. There is benefit to Microsoft from growing that ecosystem, so that switching between Android devices and Windows Phones is less jarring.
MS really needs to allow Android emulation on Windows Phone. It's just too painful because so many apps don't exist or have shitty WP hacks only. Controlling a speaker? Playing Go on various servers? Sending secure messages (TextSecure/Signal)? I've no high performance needs, but WP simply lacks the apps I need.
Also, their store is a disgrace of crap, shovelwear and outright scams. They even had a fake Windows 8.1 Update pass their "approval" process. Even when I find a non scam, the quality is usually poor.
It's obviously not quite the same, but Microsoft supporting Android apps on Windows Phone reminds me of IBM supporting Windows apps on OS/2. Supporting your competitor's apps can prevent some immediate suffering by users, but it isn't a good strategy for an ecosystem.
If people end up mostly running the emulated apps on your OS, you might as well just use that other OS, and run those apps on it natively, for the best experience. And figure out a way to run your ecosystem on top of that. Specifically here, that would mean for Microsoft to switch to Cyanogen for its devices, and ship a .NET runtime so Windows Phone apps can work on it.
I doubt that's a great idea, but I think it's better than emulating Android apps on top of Windows Phone. I'm just guessing here though.
On the other hand, Parallels Desktop, VMWare and Bootcamp helped a lot of people switch from Windows computers over to the Mac. Sometimes it can work out & bring more customers.
Sure, that's obviously the debate inside MS, or they'd done it a long time ago. But it's clear, despite the Windows Store touting app counts, that WP is just not happening. So providing a slow, limited emulator could help bridge the gap on essential apps, while not totally giving up. Otherwise folks like me that would really prefer Windows Phone, we're just gonna stick to Android.
> Also, their store is a disgrace of crap, shovelwear and outright scams. They even had a fake Windows 8.1 Update pass their "approval" process. Even when I find a non scam, the quality is usually poor.
This is something that infuriates me as a Windows Phone user. I don't need many apps, but occasionally I get interested in something and decide to check it out. It seems that 90% of the Windows Store is utter crap. Microsoft should never have gotten into the app numbers game. I would rather they had a very strict approval process and only let through the best of the best than this scummy garbage.
I suspect it won't. MSofties are just hedging their bets. Considering they now have a full mobile stack in-house (from hardware to OS to services), they would be crazy to throw away its centerpiece just like that; but what they really care about is their cloud/services strategy, so they have to make sure device-agnostic ubiquitousness is in place anyway.
1. This is very bad for windows phone developer. It will make the ecosystem more suffer
2. There is a little hope. Windows phone is more efficient than android. If wp10 full compartibility with android hardware
spec, wp10 can fight on below 100 dollar price
I imagine Microsoft will continue as it has been with Windows Phone. This is just a way to use the Microsoft apps across both Windows Phone and Cyanogen devices that want those apps. There is benefit to Microsoft from growing that ecosystem, so that switching between Android devices and Windows Phones is less jarring.